(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to providing broadcast content, and more particularly, to a method of handover between a communication network and a broadcast network for providing broadcast content.
(b) Description of the Related Art
With the development of IT technologies, terminals each including both a communication network receiver and a broadcast network receiver are coming into use. Broadcast content can be provided through a communication network or a broadcast network.
A user terminal can receive paid broadcast content (e.g., a soccer match) through a communication network. At this point, if the number of users receiving the broadcast content through the communication network increases, the load on the communication network becomes heavier. A user terminal also can receive broadcast content (e.g., a baseball match) through a communication network. When the broadcast content is forcibly ended according to a regular broadcasting schedule, a user may want to continue watching the broadcast content. In these cases, a handover procedure between the broadcast network and the communication network is required.
A general handover procedure between the broadcast network and the communication network begins with a request from a terminal. That is, the terminal continues to measure radio signals in the vicinity, and reports measurement results to the currently connected network. The network having received the report on the measurement results makes a decision to perform a handover operation according to predetermined criteria, and the terminal submits a resource reservation request to a network (i.e., target network) for handover. Thereby, the terminal can continuously receive particular broadcast content by performing the handover operation between the communication network and the broadcast network and resuming the broadcast service.
However, such a general handover operation between a communication network and a broadcast network only applies to a specific terminal that has requested the handover. Accordingly, in the case that a group handover for multiple terminals is required, it is difficult to perform an appropriate handover operation due to changes in the network states.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.